At Ray-Ban, customize your glasses over and over again!
THE CONCEPT
In its brand new and unique flagship store in the Soho district of NYC, Ray-Ban presents its collections in a brick and metal décor. It has opted for omnichannel retailing between its web site and the bricks-and-mortar store. So customizing one’s glasses is a seamless experience on either channel. But Ray-Ban wanted to go further for its retail outlet, among other things by making it a place of entertainment. “We are a long-established brand (Ray-Ban was founded in 1937!) but we want to maintain closer contact with our customers”. The retail outlet is an excellent space for additional advertising to convey its values and culture. The presentation of the products there is particularly polished and the staging of the customization service is impressive. The brand also wants its customers to interact and appropriate the store, for instance by organizing parties there. In a nutshell, it wants to be an “entertaining” brand that customers can have fun with.
Why visit the store
Test your glasses with a connected mirror
Have fun trying on lots of different pairs of glasses in front of a smart mirror. Simple, quick and with a wider choice than is available in store by also accessing products online, the mirror lets you try out the product without the risk of being pestered by a sales assistant. The brand plays on customer “enhancement” to offer an amusing and engaging experience. Smart mirrors are nothing new as such, but here the perfect technical accomplishment prefigures a long-term shelf life for this system.
Share this moment with your friends
Ray-Ban is keen to fit in with the new shopping behaviour of its customer base. The smartphone and social media are naturally part of this. The fact is that you will undoubtedly want to share your selfies with your friends: you can e-mail them pictures of you trying on glasses from the mirror. So there’s no need to make a hasty purchase. Wait for their feedback, even if this means completing the purchase in your own time at home. The brand opts for omnichannel retailing and in so doing updates its customer database.
Customize your sunglasses
The store’s must-have, feel free to go to the counter to customize your sunglasses with the help of the sales assistant. Bins containing a large selection of frames, side-pieces or lenses are at your disposal. The sales assistant then only needs to clip them on in a variety of combinations until you find your ideal pair of glasses. The combinations seem infinite! You can visualize your creation on a tablet via a scanner nearby (all the components are fitted with RFID chips). Here again you can share the end result with your family and friends or complete your order on the tablet.
Engrave a message on the side-pieces
The finishing touch: choose a text to engrave on your side-pieces by sending the message you want to engrave on them from the tablet. An engraving machine in the store does this for you in a very short space of time. Ray-Ban also offers you a similar experience with the Remix functionality on its web site.
Attend brand events
And why not finalize your party by taking advantage of the programme of events the store offers? An ideal place to organize your festivities, with its magnificent spaces on two floors.
As its NYC web site says: “Part store, part music hall, part artist exhibit, part community cultural haven, part creative expression centre, part whatever you make it and more.” (http://www.ray-ban.com/usa/new-york-soho-store). Inside the store, a “culture” area symbolizes the brand’s values.
Live the experience in video
Photos
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